A modern treatment of Verdi's epic opera

Washington Opera present a brand-new, exciting restaging of Verdi's epic, in a co-production with San Francisco Opera, Seattle Opera, and Minnesota Opera. The first staging of Aida in 25 years, this marks a watershed moment in Washington, with brand-new visuals by RETNA and a more modernistic setting. With parkour and modern dance in the background, the story of the two warring societies is giving a more relevant background that closely mirrors the Arab Spring. Directed by Francesca Zambello and conducted by Michael Christie, the role of Aida will be shared between Tamara Wilson and Amber Wagner, with Ekaterina Semenchuk and Marina Prudenskaya singing the role of Amneris.

A beautiful Ethiopian princess currently lives in the city of Thebes as a slave to the Pharoah's daughter. She is secretly in love with the military hero Radames, however he is pursued by Amneris, the Egyptian King's daughter, herself a princess. Nobody knows Aida's true identity, which has kept her safe up to now, and her father in Ethiopia is making battle plans to take her back, disguises as a common soldier within his troops. Amneris, suspecting that Aida is her love rival, draws in the naive girl with false friendliness in order to draw her secret out, after all, how could a man choose a foreigner over her, a princess? After Radames leads the Egyptians in defending their land, he succeeds in capturing the Ethiopian king as well as thousands of others.